Since we have to do a mock interview for the module, I’ve been researching into some jobs that I’ve viewed as interesting. Some are normal jobs as either a sales assistant or waitress, others are art of an internship, and the rest are assistants to photographers. I wanted to get a wide range of jobs so I can whittle them down to something I feel is best for me at this moment in time. I need the job to be practical as well as helping me gain experience in life, and it would help if the job was well paid as I of course have bills to pay.
0 Comments
When it comes to promoting yourself and getting yourself out there, the best advice is to get yourself a social media page! I suggest Facebook as pretty much everyone has it, as well as that, the risk of your images being taken are lower than anywhere else because as soon as you upload your images to Facebook, the website itself reduces the amount of pixels in your image, so if anyone wants to increase the size of your image, it’ll be very pixelated and super distorted. Also, once you upload to somewhere like Instagram, the image is no longer yours, it becomes public property so anyone could take it. Once you’ve got a social platform, create a website, something cheap and easy is the best way for your first time, unless you have the skills and time to make a really intricate one, then go for it. Make sure you’re posting regularly but not every 5 seconds, people can get annoyed and bored of posts from the same people all the time, so post often but not all the time. Start limiting the amount of work you do, don’t try to do everything, narrow your work down and figure out what you specialise in, it helps! When the opportunity comes up with a client, mention that you’ve done other work, but don’t overwhelm then with different types because then they’ll struggle to find out what you really do and what your style is as a photographer. The best thing you can ever do is… WORD OF MOUTH!!! Get yourself a client with lots of connection, do great work for them that you’re both proud to be part of, and sell it. Once you give one person great work, they’ll pass it on to others and that’s how you get yourself known!
I’ve been recently writing my artist statement for my professional development and personal outcomes. I’ve created both a Personal CV and Cover Letter as well as a Professional CV and Cover Letter as I feel it gives me the best chance to succeed within the world. I can differentiate between both for the area that needs it, whilst including little things in either to show my personality and experience through both. Writing my Cover Letter is probably the hardest thing because it has to have your traits and your strengths in it, as well as your personality without making the employer bored, and keeping it professional. My artist statement needs to be professional, something I can use in the future as well as present time. It needs to have my current work as well as my photographic style. I’ve been looking at other photographer’s statements when I’ve been in exhibitions, taking inspiration from theirs and seeing if there is anything I should have, that would make it clear what I’m trying to say. It helps to take advice/inspiration from others work because it lets you see what others are doing.
I’ve been really lacking on my work load recently which it probably not the best thing to do with where my head is at right now. It’s really hard to make a schedule and actually stick to it. Like I said, I love lists and being organised; when I’m not its stresses me out and really brings my mood down. So I’ve been focusing on my website for my photographic professional practice. It’s a pretty basic website to be honest. I did have a good one, but I deleted it because I felt I needed a fresh start, a clean slate as others say. I want it to be simple and clean, make a statement towards my work and myself as a person… I’m currently on wix.com because it’s free and gives you a ton of templates to choose from. Trying to make it my own is the hard part, specific to myself. I’ve been looking at other sites and a friend has done theirs on Weebly, the only reason I want to look into it is because she doesn’t have a complicated URL, it’s her name… simple and clear. My website will have all the essentials on like project work, a portfolio to get an overall look as to what I do, a contact page, then current work I’m doing right now… as well as my blog which will gives viewers a chance to read what I say and get to know me… Kind of
We’ve had our third meeting as a group for the exhibition and we’ve established a lot. The majority of the class didn’t come to the last meeting so people were getting confused because I thought we had kind of made some big decisions as a team. Those who didn’t come were aware that they didn’t get a say as that again was a rule we made as a group. It’s annoying because it’s the same people that don’t come and then have something to say in the group chat. Anyway, I feel like I’m a natural born leader, I take the reins if no one steps up and I feel I can lead groups pretty well. I think that’s because I’ve got a big family with lots of people younger than me, so I can handle pretty much anyway at any age. That has come in handy whilst being at uni, it’s gave me the confidence to take life by the horns and to stop relying on others. You’re really only there for you and only you can make things happen for yourself that you need. My role in the exhibition is in the Fundraising group. We get to organise events and decide how to go about getting money basically. I’m also one of the three in the Organisation group. We talk to each other about the progress being made in our group and feedback to them. That’s helpful but people mainly go to the main group chat to get clarification. At least that way, it definitely a group decision. But again, I feel like I’m carrying the group for the meetings, when something is being said or suggested or decided, the person speaking always looks to me as if I’m the chairman. It’s good because then I feel like a leader, mainly because I think I’ve taken charge and structured the meetings that way. I just don’t want to waste time chatting about others things like nails or boyfriends or clubbing when that time is supposed to be spent discussing the exhibition. I guess I just like order and clarity in meetings. I feel like I’m secretly a lawyer or a judge or something.
Today is a day of being organised and doing work, like actually doing it. I’m going to be productive and start posting more. I have a sketchbook for my FMP that I’m wanting to incorporate into my work, showing the process, the research, how I did it and why, a mini journal of the experience and the progress. I want to have that at my exhibition in both Carlisle and London. Oh, and by the way, I GOT A PLACE AT FREE RANGE!! This is major, as soon as I got the email I rang my Mam and Nanna, they were so happy and proud of me! That was kind of the moment I realised that maybe I really am good at what I do and I get to showcase that to a ton of people. As for today, I figured out that I have 63+ things to do in this sketchbook to get the basics across. I’ve done 11 of those things which is basically nothing! I need to get cracking and do some stuff.
In terms of my education, I’m currently finishing my third year of uni; which I’ll then be going on to complete my MA course in September. I wanted to do my Masters because I feel like it would better me as a person as well as a photographer. I also feel like it would give me a better shot at getting a job in the industry, because it shows the employer how determined I am to succeed, and how much I want to better myself and constantly grow as a photographer. In my opinion, I think education is vital for anyone, it lets you gain confidence and knowledge and encourages you to get better at whatever it is you’re studying!
I went to EDINBURGH today!! It was a free class trip to go look at some amazing galleries, along with some exploring, and fun. I needed to really look at mainly the way that the work was presented, the hanging methods, printing methods, materials used, and any extras that supported the work. I didn’t like any of the hanging methods in the National Portrait Gallery to be honest. There was one in the Heroes and Heroines section, which was filled with King’s, Queen’s, and many others. At the very end of the corridor, there was an image being hung with the split batons. This is something I’m going to consider for my work within the exhibitions as it neat, clean, makes the image appear almost off the wall, and it’s not distracting to the work because there directly behind it. There was also the ‘Stills Gallery’ which was interesting. I wasn’t a huge fan of the hanging methods though because they were all pretty basic and quite similar. Plus, there was a laminated sheet with the work titles, artists, and dimensions, some had small artist statements, some didn’t. I felt like that was too much work for someone as simple as me, I liked to just look at the work and try to figure it out myself rather than carrying around a booklet. I had a lot of fun there, it was nice for a change of scenery for free, it also gave me a break from working and let me just breathe for a second.
Part of our module with Katrin is to be in touch with our professional development, ready for the future and what opportunities that may arise for us. So in order for us to really be prepared, we’ll be doing a mock interview for a job which we find and email her about. It will then be up to us to prepare for the interview, show her how we feel an interview should be completed; then she will give us feedback as well as another moderator. We looked into other jobs and started to identify what we needed for it, any research we needed, as how we would sell ourselves to the employer through our body language, personality, attitude, clothing, and writing within both our CV and Cover Letter. She also made it known that we should be thinking about Artist Statements for our exhibitions, and we can book tutorials with her to refine and tweak the final statement. This was really helpful for us for the future and present time.
I recently had an interview for my MA Course at the University of Cumbria, and I am super excited! I got an email a few hours later saying that I had been offered a place and I will be starting in September which is AWESOME!!! I’m super-duper excited and I can’t wait to start. I think the interview went well, obviously! But I wasn’t majorly nervous, but I think it was because I knew the lecturer’s and it was a chilled and relaxed environment. I’m not exactly sure what I want to do in terms of photographing, I think I might go down the still life route and do something that I want to and never got around it to do it.
|
AuthorHannam Photography Archives
April 2018
Categories |